Thursday, October 25, 2012

My Life at the Theater: HENRY V

We saw this at Stratford Shakespeare Festival this summer. A nicely mounted production but not my favorite play by any means. The actor playing Henry played Lenny in THE HOMECOMING last season and oh, my I liked him better in that. He was transfixing in that play.

I have to admit Shakespeare's history plays leave me cold except for Richard III.Am I a philistine?

I second Todd's comments. Shakespeare knew what side his bread was buttered on (as did all playwrites who wanted to see their plays produced in a time when all theater works had to be reviewed by official censors before being permitted for performance) and he strictly toed the Tudor line when it came to English history (Richard III = hunchbacked monster, etc.). On the other hand, being raised in England at that time, the Tudor version of historical events WAS the version most people knew and believed. When it comes to the histories, I tend to focus more on ancillary, fictional characters like Falstaff or Mistress Quickly than "real" historical ones.

SHOT IN DETROIT

CONCRETE ANGEL

And this...

“It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.” ― C.S. Lewis

Patricia (Patti) Abbott

Contact me

at aa2579@wayne.edu

About Me

Patricia Abbott is the author of more than 125 stories that have appeared online, in print journals and in various anthologies. She is the author of two print novels CONCRETE ANGEL (2015) and SHOT IN DETROIT (2016)(Polis Books). CONCRETE ANGEL was nominated for an Anthony and Macavity Award in 2016.